1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for producing a label used for a power cord or the like. The label is wound around and affixed to the power cord or the like and is used to identify the power cord or the like. This invention particularly relates to a cord label producing device capable of creating a cord label that is easily affixed to a power cord or the like by a simple operation.
2. Description of Related Art
When a number of power cords are normally connected to outlets, OA taps or the like, convenience can be offered to users if the power cords can be distinguished in kind from each other so that they are easily seen. To easily distinguish between different power cords, cord labels have been affixed to the power cords.
Various labels have previously been proposed which are usable as such cord labels. A known tape printing device that is capable of creating such labels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,009,530 and 5,193,926 and Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 4-43788, for example. This type of tape printing device is constructed so that characters such as cord names are printed on the reverse side of a transparent film tape and then a pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape with a releasable paper is stuck on the printed surface of the film tape, thereby creating a tape with characters printed thereon.
This tape is used by winding an adhesive surface of the pressure sensitive adhesive double coated tape on a power cord or the like after the releasable paper has been separated from the film tape.
Since each of the cord labels is wound on the power cord in use, it is necessary to form a suitable winding margin in view of the size or diameter of the cord. Also, characters indicative of the name of the cord must be printed on both sides of the margin at two positions to enable easy confirmation of the kind of cord.
In the conventional tape printing device, however, there is no special function for creating the cord label. In particular, a means for setting winding margins corresponding to sizes or diameters of various cords is not provided. Thus, when the cord label is produced by such a tape printing device, two texts such as characters indicative of the designations or names of cords were created via a keyboard, and a plurality of spaces were inserted between the texts as necessary to form a winding margin for the cords.
The so-formed winding margin is made in advance in view of the size or diameter of each cord by an operator. It is however very hard to actually bring the formed winding margin into alignment with the size of each cord. Thus, when the winding margin is not made coincident with the size of each cord when actually winding the produced cord label on each cord, it was necessary to change the number of the spaces to be inserted between the texts and to repeatedly recreate the label. It is thus difficult and time consuming for the conventional tape printing device to accurately produce a useful cord label. Further, the conventional tape printing device often requires the label to be recreated over and over again to accurately determine the margin and spacing, which becomes cumbersome and wastes materials.